Priory top the medal table in 24-school mini Olympics

TOP OF THE CLASS: Priory celebrate topping the medal table at the Cambs Primary Schools Athletic Championships.

AN incredible 700 children from 24 schools took part in the Cambridgeshire Primary Schools Athletics Championships for nine to 11 year olds at St Ivo athletics track in St Ives on Wednesday.

St Neots school Priory – who organised the event – won the overall team medal, finishing 24 points ahead of their nearest rivals Crosshall Junior School (also St Neots), with St Laurence from Cambridge in third. Priory topped the medal table with five golds, two silvers and one bronze.

There were two double gold winners for the school with Abi Parish winning the year 6 600 metres and 4x600m gold with Abbey Foster, Alex Harris and Issac Dunn – and Murphy Culkin clocking in the sensational time of 11.16 seconds for the 80 metre sprint to break the championship record, before joining Sam Morgan, Jamica Scully, Emily Hinton and Adrian O’Hara for another gold run in the 5x80m relay.

Priory’s other gold came in the tug of war where Ellie Lucas, Sam Harding, Jessica Harriosn, Caitlin Cairuk, Kyle Hassett, Taylor Nicholson, Owen Partridge and Ethan Lindley triumphed over Park lane in the final.

Event organiser Kevin sadler said: “The enthusiasm and excitement generated by all the children who entered was very noticeable. This helped them achieve record breaking performances and many exciting finishes.

“The event has become Cambridgeshire’s very own ‘mini Olympics’.”

The championships were sponsored by Luminus and members of Riverside Runners – plus other volunteers – were on hand to make sure everything ran smoothly.